


Idiocy

by skeletondust



Series: Final Fantasy XV: Moments In Time [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Insecurity, five times one time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2018-09-08 03:52:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8829424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skeletondust/pseuds/skeletondust
Summary: Five times everyone thought Prompto was an idiot, and the one time they didn't.





	1. The Car

“Woohoo!” Prompto cheered with a laugh. He lifted his hand in the air, loving the way the wind ran through his fingers. Being able to actually drive the car, instead of just being stuck in the back seat, was a nicely liberating feeling. He hadn’t driven anything since months before they even left Lucis since he didn’t have a car of his own. Driving was a rare luxury for him, and he was going to soak up every second of enjoyment before someone tried to kill it.

“Both hands on the steering wheel, please,” Ignis said calmly from the passenger's seat.

There it was, the buzzkill. Despite the calmness, the underlying irritated tone was enough to bring him down. It had only been about five minutes, too. The blonde huffed, but put his hand down. Placing both on ten and two, the proper way they showed you during driver’s ed, he glanced at the man next to him.

“Is that better, mom?” He asked, smirking at the glare he received.

Ignis pushed his glasses back up his nose, the way he habitually did whenever he was getting annoyed. Two fingers, eyes closed, head tilted down, not facing towards anyone. “I simply wish that if you are going to be driving so fast that you keep both of your hands on the steering wheel for our safety. And please, keep your eyes on the road.”

Safety? They were in the regalia, the car belonging to the royal family of Lucis. There probably wasn’t a safer car out there, even with the roof down. However, knowing Ignis, a different argument might be a better one. “I’m not even going that fast.”

“Faster than Iggy ever drives,” Gladio commented.

“Yeah, you drive like an old lady, Iggy!” Prompto agreed. This got him another glare and a chuckle from Gladio.

“Oh, so following the speed limit is something only the elderly do?” Ignis retorted. “Then I suppose that I must be tremendously old.”

“Aw, c’mon, that’s not what I meant!” He protested.

“No, you made yourself  _ quite  _ clear.”

Gladio laughed loudly. “Hey, if Iggy’s old, does that make me ancient? I am older than him.”

“Guys! That really isn’t what I meant!” He pouted. “And you were on my side!”

“What can I say? I don’t like to lose arguments.”

Prompto rolled his eyes, letting his pout deepen. They always ganged up on him like this, and it totally wasn’t fair. Not everyone could be as quick-witted as they all seemed to be.

“Sshhh!” Noctis hissed, somehow making it sound groggy. “You’re too loud. ‘m sleepin’.”

“Yeah, the princess needs his beauty sleep,” Gladio teased.

Noctis attempted to hit his bodyguard, but ended up only squishing his cheek. He waved a hand in Gladio’s space a few more times before letting his arm fall and going back to his nap. Prompto watched amusedly through the mirror, grinning once again. Nothing could keep him down for very long.

They drove in silence for a few minutes, letting Noctis fall back into whatever comatose state it was that he called sleep. Not really being one to keep quiet, Prompto eventually started tapping his fingers on the steering wheel and humming a song. Nothing specific, just a happy little tune that he improvised.

He could see from the corner of his eye that Ignis was growing irritated again. The man was far too on edge. He knew the guy was just nervous that something might go wrong and prevent them from finishing their little journey, but he really needed to loosen up a little, this trip was essentially Noct’s bachelor party. Well, loosening up wasn’t really in the guy’s job description, since part of his job consisted of worrying about the prince. Maybe he could cut him just a little bit of slack.

“By the gods, Prompto, would you stop doing that?”

Right when he was starting to feel sympathetic for the man.

“How else am I gonna entertain myself?” He defended. “We can’t turn on the radio with Noct sleeping, so I gotta do something!”

“Is just driving not enough for you? Surely for someone with such a small attention span as you, it would take up all of your focus.”

“C’mon, you two, don’t fight,” Gladio said weakly, not making much of an attempt to end their bickering. They always ended up bickering, just like an old couple, whether it was just friendly quips or had some sort of underlying hostility. Once they started, there was really no stopping.

“Keep your eyes on the road!” Ignis shouted when Prompto turned to look at him, not even giving him a chance to respond. “How many times must I tell you?”

“That was the second,” He muttered, moving back to look at the seemingly endless, straight, flat stretch of road. They were no danger at all on it.

“Well, it’s nice to know that you simply ignore everything I say.” He sighed in an obviously fake, dramatic way. “I don’t know what possessed me to allow you to drive.”

“If you want the wheel, then freaking take it!” His fun really had ended, hadn’t it? He let out a sigh, a real one. “Look, this road is completely flat and straight, so there’s no way anything is gonna ha-”

The car lurched rightwards. Prompto immediately stomped down as hard as possible on the brakes and yanked the steering wheel to the right, trying to turn into the skid. They practically flew off of the road, the front end of the regalia slamming into a boulder with a crack. The force of the impact threw Prompto forward, his seat belt locking and knocking all of the air out of his lungs, but not locking fast enough to stop his face from smacking into the suddenly inflated airbag.

For a moment, everything seemed to be frozen, the only sounds being little creaks and pops from the car, and some sort of hiss. No one moved, no one said a word. ‘Shock’ was the best way to describe their state.

Panic dissipated slowly as he came back to his senses. The first thing he noticed was that his nose and chest hurt, but not enough to be of too much concern. The second was how tightly he was gripping the steering wheel. It took him a few more moments to calm down enough before he could pry his fingers off of it. They ached when they were finally free.

The third thing he noticed, once he had forced his eyes back open, was the absolute look of horror on Ignis’s face. It was a mixture of different kinds of horror, which made it all the scarier. Horror from the general shock of being in a car crash, horror at the damage done to the precious regalia, horror at the thought that he had let this happen by allowing Prompto, the clumsiest of them all, to drive.

The younger man pushed the single most sheepish, apologetic smile he had ever made onto his face. Ignis completely ignored it, rather adjusting his glasses again. Good, he thought, because it was much less a smile and much more a grimace, and probably wouldn’t have been received well at all.

“Is everyone alright?” Ignis asked, turning specifically to face Noctis, despite addressing the group as a whole.

In the back, Gladio had one arm holding himself away from the back of the driver’s seat, the other holding Noctis back in his own. The prince looked beyond confused, having been rudely awoken by the crash.

Gladio let out a sigh, lowering both of his arms. “Yeah, we’re alright. No injuries here.”

Prompto looked at his best friend, still wearing his sheepish grimace. Noctis blinked, and cringed in what looked like sympathy. “Prom, you’re bleeding.”

“Ah, what!?” A quick check of his face had him bringing away fingers covered in blood. Come to think of it, he could feel the warm liquid dripping all the way down his chin, even some getting onto his neck. No wonder his nose hurt. “What the hell!”

“Ooh, that looks bad,” Gladio said.

Suddenly, Ignis was grabbing him by the face, forcing him to look at the older man. He felt around Prompto’s nose, which honestly just made it hurt more, but let go of him when he seemed satisfied with whatever it was he had been checking.

“Your nose isn’t broken, fortunately,” He said. He pulled out a handkerchief from one of his pockets and handed it to Prompto. “Hold this against it and pinch your nostrils shut, that should help stop the bleeding eventually. Oh, and don’t tilt your head back, blood might drip into your throat.”

He frowned at the thought of that happening, and did as he was told. “Gross.”

A phone camera clicked. Gladio chuckled, and showed the screen to Noctis.

“That’s kind of terrible,” He snorted.

“What? Did you take a picture of me?” Prompto asked. He sounded horribly congested. “Gladio!”

“C’mon!” He laughed. “Your face was hilarious, and the blood just added effect. I couldn’t just  _ not  _ take a picture of it!”

“It’s your own fault,” Ignis remarked. “You crashed the car, after all.”

Noctis’s already vague smile faded with a realization. “Shit, the car.”

He jumped out, looping around to where the front was practically planted in the tree. His adviser and bodyguard followed right after him.

“Wow, man, you really did a number,” Gladio said, leaning down to get a good look at the damage.

Noctis was devastated. “My dad’s gonna kill me.”

Now real guilt was seeping in. Prompto climbed out and joined his friends at the boulder. The light was completely shattered, the bumper and part of the hood were crumpled in ways that looked painful, and the front window was cracked. One of the front wheels was lifted slightly off the ground, spinning with a hiss, slowing down as the seconds went by. It was a mess, to say the least, and his fault to some extent.

Ignis sighed. “Surely we can get it fixed.”

“Oh, definitely.” Gladio stood back up, propping his hands on his hips. “Just might cost us a bit.”

“Okay, I’m less dead,” Noctis said, a little relieved.

Prompto wandered off, leaving the group to chatter about the damage and whether or not they could get to the nearest rest stop with it in that condition. He had been the one driving when they had crashed, so it was at least a little bit his fault, but surely the speed he had been driving at wasn’t the problem. It couldn’t have been from lack of attention, either. He focused plenty when driving. He could talk and drive at the same time, it wasn’t that hard.

Walking just a few yards brought a completely out of place pothole into view. It was a pretty large one, too, probably caused by some sort of animal, since the rest of the road was smooth. He punched the air in frustration.

“Prom?” Noctis called, a little concerned.

“There’s a frickin’ pothole!” He yelled back.

The snide look on Ignis’s face said it all. Prompto was the idiot here, and he was the smart one, just as always.

“I told you several times to pay attention to the road,” He announced as the blonde arrived back at the crash site.

“Twice!” He held up two bloodied fingers for emphasis. “You told me  _ twice _ .”

“Once should have been plenty.”

“Can we just go get the car fixed?” Noctis asked, though the flatness of his voice suggested it was more of an order.

Ignis took back his place as the driver. Gladio took the passengers seat, wanting to keep an eye out for anything else breaking. That left Prompto and Noctis to the back seats, which definitely meant the prince was going to go back to his nap. Car crash or no, very little could stop him from sleeping when he really wanted to.

Prompto sat, not saying a word, not even humming a tune to himself. He couldn’t bring himself to think of any appropriate jokes to lighten the mood, either. No one seemed particularly mad, but no one was happy. It didn’t help that, even though the bleeding itself had stopped, there was still quickly drying blood on his face and neck. Everything together made him grow antsy. He tapped his fingers impatiently on his thighs.

“Hey.” A finger poked his cheek. He turned to look at Noctis. He could have sworn he was sleeping just a second ago. “You’re not smiling or making stupid jokes. It’s creeping me out.”

He shrugged. “Kinda hard to after wrecking the regalia. And with my face being all bloody, too.”

Noctis poked him again.

“Noct?”

“You might’ve been kind of an idiot, but it’s fine,” He said consolingly. “It was an accident.”

“Yeah, it was partially Iggy’s fault, anyway,” Gladio added.

“Excuse me?” Ignis questioned. “What exactly do you mean, ‘partially my fault’?”

“He was doing just fine until you yelled at him for tapping and humming.”

“In my defense, it was quite annoying.”

Prompto laughed, loudly and cheerfully. “You think everything I do is annoying!”

The jokes started a few minutes later.


	2. The Tent

The fire crackled loudly, spitting up sparks as a new log was dropped in. He poked things around with the stoker, which was just a long stick he had found, to allow the flames to catch on the log. He put out the end of the stoker in the dirt. Prompto let out a tiny, bored sigh, and started scratching little drawings into the earth.

They had had the good fortune of coming across a Coernix Station with its own garage, but not before the regalia had broken down for the second time that week, forcing them to push the heavy machine the entire distance. In their favor, however, was the fact that Cindy had come all the way out from Hammerhead and the local mechanics were letting her use their garage to fix up the car. It was going to cost quite a bit, just as Gladio had said, but knowing they could be on the road again in a few days was a good enough relief.

They set up camp in a small clearing next to a patch of forest right near the border with Duscae, only about a twenty minute walk from the station. According to Cindy there wasn’t a single motel in Duscae until you reached Lestallum and all of the caravans were filled up, so it would have to do for the night. They would worry about getting the gil they needed in the morning, Ignis had decided. Maybe they could hunt down a few monsters for the bounty.

Prompto had thought camping was going to be fun. Maybe it was when you did it properly, when you did it as a vacation rather than being forced to from lack of anywhere else to stay. This, however, wasn’t fun, and was actually incredibly boring. He hadn’t been able to help set up the tents, nor anything else, out of fear of messing it up and inciting Ignis’s wrath again. It wouldn’t be so bad if he weren’t stuck at the campsite alone, he figured.

Noctis and Gladio had gone off to train- something he could stand to do himself, as his only experiences with combat were a few friendly wrestling matches and the occasional need to dodge a knee to the balls or a fist to the face back when they were in school. He would have gone with them, even just to practice his surprisingly good aim with a gun, but someone needed to watch over their things while Ignis went looking for wild herbs.

He let out a louder bored sigh. The best he could do was entertain himself, which wasn’t as easy as it was at home, especially since there was no internet access out here. He finished scratching a last few lines into the dirt at his feet and leaned back to assess his work. The tonberry and the chocobo looked decent enough, at least recognizable. His other drawings, though…

“What exactly is that meant to be?”

“Iggy!” Prompto jumped, but brightened up immediately when he saw his friend. He followed his pointed finger to one of the drawings, something that looked like a kind of spiky ball. “Oh, uh, a marlboro?”

Ignis hummed. “Doesn’t look much like one. The chocobo looks nice, however.”

“Aw, thanks! I just got-”

“Bored?”

“Yes.”

It was silent again for a moment. Ignis took out his cookware and the food they had and set everything up to cook. Prompto poked at the fire with his stoker-stick, just to make sure the flames were high enough, or hot enough, or whatever. The only thing he knew how to cook over a fire was marshmallows, and he hadn’t even done that before.

“Iggy?” He asked. “Is this fire good? Like, for you to cook on?”

The older man briefly glanced up from his food preparations. “No. Add some more firewood.”

He vaguely wondered how a royal who spent most if not all of his life in the city knew anything about camping and campfires. Studying, probably. He reached to the side to grab a piece of wood, but his hand came up empty.

“Oh.”

“What?” Ignis asked, though he sounded as though he didn’t care.

“We’re out of firewood,” Prompto answered. He could have sworn Gladio had gathered more than that. Before he could get a sarcastic response, he dropped his stoker and got out of his chair. “I’ll go get some more!”

He thought he heard a chuckle as he headed towards the forest.

The leaves that perpetually covered the ground, like in any forest, didn’t crunch under his feet. They just squished down, kind of like a thin layer of mud. It must have rained the night before. It was a good thing he always wore boots, or else his shoes probably would have soaked through in a couple of steps. Still, it was pretty gross, just the sensation of squishing with each step. He vaguely wondered if melting snow, that slushy stuff, felt the same way to walk in.

There wasn’t very much firewood, or at least things that he figured made good firewood. The forest floor was mostly littered with small sticks that he thought would make better kindling. He picked them up anyway, knowing a use could be found for them. Maybe the bigger fallen branches were further out. Just getting a few would probably be okay, if Ignis only needed the fire to cook. They had lanterns they could use for light, if they had to.

Just like the campsite, the forest was boring. Few creatures seemed to live in it due to its small size. To pass the time as he searched, as otherwise he would probably go insane, Prompto began to sing to himself. Fortunately this time no one was around to yell at him for being annoying. He could belt out any lines he wanted as loudly as he wanted, although he decided to stay quiet. He wasn’t  _ that  _ far away from the camp and he really didn’t want anyone to hear him. That would be embarrassing.

It was still a while before he found anything remotely like good firewood. He had sung through a few of his favorite songs, had managed to remember snippets of lyrics from that girl group Noctis pretended he didn’t like, and had made up at least four little tunes about dogs and chocobos before stumbling across a single fallen branch.

Not paying close enough attention to where he was going, Prompto’s foot caught on something and fell to the ground with a yelp, the twigs he had gathered going flying. He just barely managed to stop his face from hitting the ground and getting him another nosebleed. Taking a second to regain his bearings and let the pain fade from his arms, he looked around to see what had made him trip. Just behind him, something stuck out of the ground.

Prompto huffed. He had tripped over an old root, and now there were mud and leaves on the clothes he was stuck in for at least another day. Well, at least he hadn’t tripped over thin air for once. Or maybe he had, and the root just happened to be there. Sore legs from pushing the car for more than a mile could be to blame. He was going to go with the root as his explanation, though. He couldn’t be picked on for clumsiness if he tripped on something real and not necessarily visible right away.

He groaned as he stood back up, picking the leaves off of himself and trying to wipe off the mud, unsuccessfully. It wasn’t ruined, really, but getting his specially-made Crownsguard outfit  _ this  _ dirty was irritating. He wasn’t keen on messing up gifts he had been given, even if they were clothes.

Letting out the millionth sigh of the evening, Prompto began to pick up as many of the sticks he had dropped as possible. They were scattered around and many blended their way into the leaves, making it difficult to find every last one. He couldn’t spend too much longer looking around, as he had been away from the camp long enough already and he didn’t want anyone to worry. With another huff and a bit of a pouting lip, the blonde started his little trek back to the campsite. He had been looking forward to one of Ignis’s famously delicious meals, but with such a low fire he supposed they were going to get stuck with boring old toast, and without any peanut butter or jelly!

Something caught his eye as he walked. Something sticking out from between a thinner pile of damp leaves. It looked like a broken piece of wood, splintered off from its origin, but there were no broken branches near it that it could have come from. He picked it up carefully so that he wouldn’t get splinters and inspected it. He was no survival expert like Gladiolus made himself out to be, but the wood looked freshly broken. Only the part that had been in the leaves was wet, which would have been impossible if it had been there before and its original branch had just been carried off.

“Weird.” Prompto muttered to himself.

A quick look around brought a downed tree into sight. The trunk was splintered where the rest of the tree had split off, jagged ends sticking up into the air, a few bending slightly outward. The top of the tree lay in pieces around the area. It was almost like a bomb had gone off, but only inside of the one tree, or else something had knocked it over and stomped on it. More likely that. Maybe it was a bandersnatch. He thought those lived in forests, but maybe not in such a tiny one. Who knew?

It took him a second to realize that the felled tree was exactly what he needed. He had even started walking away when it dawned on him, and he went sprinting back, almost tripping again. A bit too excitedly, he started picking up branches and pieces of broken tree trunk, even snapping a few smaller bits off of the tree top itself.

Although his arms were starting to weigh down with all of the logs, he felt as though he should grab just one more. Just one more, so maybe someone would be just a little bit impressed with him. He knew no one would be, only his clumsiness and cluelessness to the world outside of Insomnia impressed any of his friends in the least, but a man could hope.

Reaching for that last log was a mistake. His hand plunged right through a thick, sticky spider web. A shriek ripped itself out of Prompto’s throat, and he yanked his hand back as fast as he could, scurrying away in a panicked hurry. Everything dropped from his arms as he frantically tried to get the web off of his hand, using everything from the toe of his boot to the bark of a tree, scraping his knuckles a little bit in the process.

After a moment he let out a long breath, trying to relieve the tension in his chest. “Gods, that was scary!” He said. At least there hadn’t been an actual spider in the web. He would have cried if it had started crawling up his arm.

The sun was nearly done setting by the time the blonde made it back to the camp. The horizon was painted a deep red, which then faded into an orange, a yellow, eventually into the pale dark blue that would soon become the night sky. The few clouds floating by glowed with soft shades of pink and purple. It was an absolutely breathtaking sight, and Prompto’s attention would not have been pried from it if it weren’t for Ignis’s voice.

“You took quite a while,” the older man said nonchalantly, only a tinge of concern underlying his words.

“It took a while to find anything we could use!” Prompto replied, dropping the firewood near the pit.

“Well, it’s fortunate that I managed to keep the fire going while you were gone.” Ignis started throwing logs in, using the same stick from before as the poker. “Otherwise, we’d be eating toast for our dinner.”

Prompto shrugged. He reached into his backpack for his camera, wanting to capture the beauty of the sunset before it disappeared. “That’s what I was scared of. Couldn’t you, like, buy some jam or something for the toast, so it’s not so bland when you do make us eat it?”

Ignis hummed, throwing some vegetables into the pan now held over the fire. “Jam goes bad quickly without refrigeration. It would be a waste of money.”

“Peanut butter, then! That stuff could survive the apocalypse.” He adjusted the shutters and the settings on his camera as he spoke, trying to get the lighting to look as perfect digitally as it did to the naked eye. Once he had it, he took careful steps forward, to the side, and even back until he found the best position. He kneeled down, angled the lens, and clicked a few times. “Perfect!” He exclaimed gladly.

“Hm. Perhaps of the prince wants some peanut butter, then we can get some.”

Prompto rolled his eyes and sighed at Ignis. “Aw, c’mon! Can’t you get something I like just for me? Pretty please, Iggy?”

He could swear there was a smirk on the adviser's face, but it was hard to see in the shadows cast by the fire and setting sun. “I think not. Do you  _ deserve  _ it?”

The blonde pouted and dropped down into his seat. “Really? I’m not a child.”

“You sure act like one,” a familiar gravelly voice said as a hand landed on his shoulder.

He shoved Gladio’s hand off. “Only sometimes! Ya know, when it’s okay!”

“Sure, buddy.” He frowned at Gladio’s chuckle. It was a little too demeaning for his taste, at least it sounded that way to him.

Noctis half-sauntered, half-plodded into the camp with his shoulders slouching forward the way they always did no matter how much he was yelled at to stand up straight. He sat down unceremoniously in the seat next to Prompto, clearly tired after a long day of pushing a car, walking, fighting sabertooths, and sparring. Then again, he was usually tired.

“How was watching the fire, Prom?” He asked, giving Gladio a bitter glare when the man shoved him a little before sitting down himself.

“Bleh! Boring,” Prompto answered. “I drew some pictures in the dirt, they’re pretty co- aw, they’re gone.” He blinked at the spot the drawings used to be in.

“Apologies,” Ignis said flatly.

“Aw, Iggy!” He whined.

“They were poorly done, anyway.”

“You said the chocobo looked good!”

He pouted as Ignis ignored him in favor of preparing the garula steak for cooking. It would still be a while until they cook eat. Prompto’s stomach growled.

Noctis shrugged. “Well, whatever.”

“Hey, did you get all this firewood?” Gladio asked from his position across the fire. “I don’t think I grabbed that much.”

“Yeah, I did!” Prompto replied proudly. “Took forever to find it, too. And when I did, my hand went  _ right through a spider web _ .”

“Gross,” Noctis muttered.

“Did ya scream?” Gladio raised his eyebrow.

“Well…” The blonde scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. He couldn’t help that spiders freaked him out, they were just so… so disgusting, and creepy.

“Yes, he did,” Ignis answered for him. “It was quite muffled from the distance, but still clear enough to know who it was.”

Gladio snorted. “Wuss.”

Prompto huffed.

“What’s there to be afraid of? Tiny little things can’t hurt ya.”

“You say that until one  _ bites  _ you and you get poisoned!” The younger man retaliated.

“Even if there were poisonous spiders in this region, we have antidotes,” Ignis said, tossing the steak on the pan held over the fire. “You would be quite alright. It’s foolish to be afraid of spiders, really.”

Prompto slid down a little in his seat. “Why’re you all ganging up on me today?”

“Probably because you crashed the regalia,” Noctis said, without a second of hesitation. He locked eyes with his friend, and the two stared at each other with equal looks of defiance and annoyance on their faces.

“Now,” Ignis continued. “I would not blame you for being afraid of an arachne.”

Both of the younger men shuddered.

“I don’t wanna think about that,” Prompto said.

“Me neither,” Noctis agreed.

“We may run into one if we decide to explore a cave,” He added.

They shuddered again.

“Oh my gods, shut up!” Prompto hissed.

“Yeah, shut up, Iggy, please.”

“Quit scaring the kids,” Gladio chuckled.

The quips and banter continued on, as always. Ignis served up dinner, seasoned garula steak with stir-fried vegetables, which the hungry men were grateful for. They joked and laughed as they ate, barely noticing when the sun dipped down completely behind the horizon and the moon rose to take its place.

It felt as though something were crawling across his skin. Prompto ignored it, knowing that it was nothing, probably just the cool night air and his lack of a jacket. He scratched the part of his arm the feeling originated from, and joined in on picking on Noctis for not eating his vegetables. But the feeling didn’t go away. He scratched again, and still it felt like something was there. He lifted up his arm to look, thinking maybe he had run into one of those plants that you rashes, whatever they were called.

He shrieked, just like he had when his hand gone through that cobweb. His food spilled on the rocky ground of the campsite and his chair fell back as he jumped onto his feet. He stumbled backwards, tripping over something as he went. He landed on tent, flattening it out with his weight, even ripping up two of the pegs.

“Spider! Spider spider spider!”

It took him a few frantic moments to realize that the spider wasn’t on him anymore. He patted himself down, just to make sure, before letting himself breathe properly. He saw the daemonic little thing still near his seat around the fire, and he scrambled a little further back.

Gladio, dropping a look of surprise from Prompto’s sudden outburst, rolled his eyes and got up, quickly squashing the spider under the heel of his boot.

“There. Dead,” he announced. “You can stop freaking out now.”

Prompto pushed himself to his feet with a sigh. The vaguely annoyed looks he was getting from Gladio and Ignis caught his attention and he felt blood rush to his cheeks, suddenly embarrassed by and painfully aware of his irrational fear. He was glad the fire cast red light. That meant no one could see

He frowned. “Uh… sorry. I didn’t mean to… freak out.”

“No harm done,” Ignis said, placing his plate carefully on the ground.

Gladio sighed and nodded his agreement. “Yeah, ya just frightened us. We can pitch the tent back up, real easy.”

The blonde nodded, still waiting for his face to stop feeling like it was on fire. Why was he like this? He kept his wondering to himself, and moved to help Gladio with the tent.

He was lifting up one of the poles when he saw it; A huge tear ripped in the side of their only shelter for the night.

“Oh no,” He muttered.

Gladio groaned.

“Oh no, what?” Noctis asked.

“Indeed, what?” Ignis echoed.

“Uh… there’s a…” He choked on his words. His embarrassment came back full force, his face flushing. He had messed up  _ again _ . In the same day, no less!

“There’s a rip in the tent,” Gladio answered for him.

“I can fix it!” Prompto rushed to say before anyone had a chance to react. “I just- I just need your sewing kit, Iggy, I can fix it!”

Glasses were pushed up. Eyes closed, two fingers on the bridge. Prompto tried not to cringe externally. “Do you even know how to sew?”

He blinked. Not the question head been expecting. “Y-yeah, I’ve always had to patch up my own clothes, so, like…”

“He used to patch up my uniform for me when I didn’t feel like getting scolded about being too oblivious, or whatever,” Noctis chimed in to his friend's defense.

Ignis gave the prince a look that was somehow a mixture between surprise and an utter lack of surprise. He carefully placed his plate on the ground and fished the little sewing kit he kept on him at almost all times out of his own bag, handing it off to Prompto.

“Try not to be so foolish next time,” He said as he returned to his seat. Prompto could only nod. He felt like such an idiot, even worse than before.

“I can’t blame him,” Noctis said with a shrug, scraping a piece of broccoli off of his plate. “Spiders are icky.”

Gladio pitched up the tent the best he could with the tear in the side, and Prompto quickly went to work at sewing it up. It only took a few minutes, and Ignis’s scrutinizing eye declared it a good hold. He even complimented the stitching.

Prompto wanted to hide. First the regalia, now the tent. One was fixed and the other being fixed, but he couldn’t help the feeling of idiocy and embarrassment in his chest. Slowly, as he still sat around the fire with his friends, talking and joking and laughing together, the feeling faded, but it still lingered, just a little bit.

Soon after Noctis, Prompto declared he was going to bed. It had been a long day. He knew he would feel better about it all the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two, as promised! Chapter three will be posted at the beginning of next week, most likely Monday or Tuesday.
> 
> ~Mel


	3. The Potions

Prompto had been right. He did feel better in the morning. He knew sleeping was like the human version of ‘turning it off and on again’, and he was grateful for that.

He squinted at the morning sun as he crawled out of the tent, stretching and yawning  once he got to his feet.

“Good morning.”

Ignis sat near the long-dead fire, first one up as always, drinking a cup of Ebony, as always.

“Mornin’!” Prompto greeted cheerily.

“I see you’re feeling much peppier,” the older man said.

“Huh?”

“Last night you seemed quite… off. You weren’t talking nearly as much as you usually do, outside of the car,” Ignis explained simply.

“Oh, uh.” He chuckled sheepishly. “I was just… pretty tired, ya know?”

He seemed to take that as a good answer, or perceived that Prompto didn’t want to talk about it. Either way, the conversation changed to something a lot less embarrassing.

“So, what’re we up to today?” Prompto grabbed a bag of gysahl chips out of their food supplies, clumsily attempting to rip open the slippery plastic bag as he sat down.

“Are you seriously going to eat  _ that  _ for breakfast?” Ignis was staring at him, although Prompto wasn’t looking so he couldn’t see with what sort of expression. Some level of disgust, or maybe disbelief, he guessed.

“What?” He finally managed to get the bag open, barely managing to prevent the chips from spilling on the ground. “You’re not cooking this morning. What else am I gonna eat?”

The older man simply sipped his coffee in response.

“That’s what I thought!”

Ignis hummed, clearly unamused. “Today, I believe we’ll be going into town to gather some curatives and take up some bounties. It’s up to Noct.”

Prompto nodded, agreeing that it was a good idea although he loathed having to fight and kill things. This was mostly because he had had no combat training, unlike the other three, and heavily relied on their abilities to keep himself from dying.

“Sounds like a plan! We definitely need the money-”

“Because someone crashed our car,” Ignis interrupted.

Prompto ignored him. “And we definitely need more potions.”

“Because someone is constantly injuring himself.”

He glared. Ignis adjusted his glasses and sipped his coffee.

“Not his fault no one taught him how to fight,” Gladio said as he got out of the tent, his voice more gravelly than usual from sleep.

“Indeed,” Ignis agreed. “However, you could do well to teach him more. You are, after all, the combat expert, while I’m simply the tactician.”

“C’mon, Iggy. My main priority is the royal ass that can’t drag himself out of bed.”

“Noctis can’t effectively be protected if one of his own Crownsguard is below ability.”

Gladio yawned. “Got me there.”

“Noct still isn’t up yet?” Prompto asked. “Like, not even a little?”

“You know how he is,” Gladio said with a roll of his eyes.

“He’s essentially a cat,” Ignis threw in.

The blonde paused for a second. “It’s my turn to wake him up, isn’t?” It was a rhetorical question. He knew it was his turn, but he dreaded it. Waking up Prince Noctis was like waking up a behemoth- incredibly dangerous and hazardous to one’s health.

The other men did not respond, simply continuing with their personal morning routines. Prompto stuffed a few chips in his mouth before reluctantly dropping the bag back in with the rest of the food. He could eat later, he supposed, if Noctis didn’t punch him in the stomach. Again. Waking up the prince was  _ not  _ an easy job, and he could not emphasize that enough, even if he was only emphasizing it to himself. Gladio gave him a thumbs up, to which Prompto rolled his eyes.

He slipped as quietly as he could back into the tent. It didn’t really matter how quiet he was, really, with Noctis being such a heavy sleeper, but he felt rude whenever he was too noisy around sleeping people. Noctis was tangled up tightly in his sleeping bag, head practically buried under his pillow. He kind of looked like a burrito, or a cat, or maybe even a sleeping child.

Prompto kneeled down next to the still figure, keeping one foot flat on the ground so he could spring up and run if the prince reacted badly to being awoken. He poked Noctis’s shoulder before shaking him slightly. He figured rousing him a little before forcing him to get up would lessen the blow.

“Noooooct,” He whispered.

The man grumbled something and waved a hand that was barely sticking out of the sleeping bag at him.

“C’mon, buddy, time to get up! The sun is shining, chocobos are chirping, and Iggy didn’t cook so we’re free to eat junk food for breakfast.” He hoped that would help coax him awake.

“No,” The prince muttered in return, rolling over so he was facing away from his friend.

Prompto sighed. “Alright. I had  _ hoped  _ it wouldn’t come to this.”

Bracing himself to run and setting himself in a position where he wouldn’t fall, Prompto grabbed near the two lower corners of the sleeping bag, took a deep breath, and pulled as hard as he could. Noctis yelled and after a second of confusion lunged at his friend. Prompto jumped out of the tent without a second of hesitation, but ended up tripping and falling flat on his face on the hard ground of the campsite. The prince stopped near his feet, blinking groggily and finally growing aware of the morning sun.

Prompto couldn’t help but let out a laugh. He hated waking up Noctis, but boy, could it be fun sometimes. He moved so he was sitting.

“Good morning, Noct,” Ignis greeted with a certain amount of sarcastic cheer. He handed him a cup of coffee. Just normal coffee, as he wouldn’t sacrifice his precious Ebony even for the Crown Prince. Noctis didn’t even respond, just sipped his drink and made a sour face at it.

“He doesn’t even like coffee,” Gladio said.

“Yeah! He just drinks it to be cool,” Prompto teased as Ignis helped him back onto his feet.

“No I don’t,” He grumbled.

“Ah! He speaks!”

After Noctis had taken his good time in waking up and getting ready, and the two younger members of the group had eaten three bags of chips between them for breakfast, they settled on Ignis’s idea of shopping and taking on some hunts. They checked in with Cindy who started explaining the work she was doing on the car. Prompto didn’t miss a beat in attempting to flirt with her,but she didn’t seem to notice. Or she just ignored him. It was hard to tell, especially with her being roped into a conversation about gear transmissions or… something with Noctis and Gladio. The bodyguard smirked at his hopeless attempts. He sneered back.

Ignis’s hand clamped consolingly on his shoulder. “I suppose you’ll be shopping with me, then?” He asked.

Prompto sighed. “Yeah, I guess. I don’t know anything about cars, anyway.”

He thought he heard a snicker as they walked to the shop. Who from, he couldn’t tell.

“Mornin’!” The shopkeeper called cheerily from the counter when they entered.

“Good morning.”

“Heyaz!”

The search for the proper items or satisfying substitutes began. Ignis had a list written down on a tiny notepad, similar to the one he wrote his recipes in, which he used to keep track of their supplies. He wrote down numbers, scratched things off, changed names, and added things as he browsed and placed items in the little black shopping basket the shop provided. Not actually knowing what was on the list or what the older man was writing down, Prompto just grabbed things when he was told and tried to help find decent substitutes for various products. He also attempted to nag Ignis into getting more junk food and random trinkets they really didn’t need. He only succeeded in getting Noctis a few more lures for fishing and an  _ extra  _ extra battery for his camera. Ignis claimed they didn’t have enough money for anything else since they had to save up for the car, and Prompto didn’t dare argue. He knew where that would get him and he would much rather not go there today.

At the counter, he was handed a paper shopping bag filled with their supplies. Or, more accurately, the bag was shoved into his arms while he wasn’t paying attention.

“Take this out to Gladio and Noctis,” Ignis ordered, much to his friend’s chagrin. “The food and remedies are to be put with our stored supplies. The antidotes and potions are to be carried with us on our hunt. Be  _ very  _ careful.” He gave him a sharp look, right into the eyes. “The potions are in fragile flasks and will most likely break if you were to drop them from tripping over your two left feet.”

“Yes,  _ sir _ ,” Prompto said sarcastically, turning to leave. “Maybe they should just make the flasks less breakable, since clumsy people like me are just gonna  _ trip  _ all the time!”

He felt bad for the snappy comment almost immediately after he stepped outside, but at the same time he felt like Ignis deserved it. Sure, Prompto was a klutz, and sure, he was always tripping over himself in and out of battle, but he wasn’t incompetent. He was just… untrained, a little uncoordinated. He hadn’t grown up learning how to fight like the three of them had, he had really only had a crash course in basic self defense a few weeks before leaving Insomnia and the good fortune to have great aim with a gun, which wasn’t really fortune at all. It wasn’t his fault that he knew so little about the world outside of the Crown City, either. He had spent most of his life within its walls, and even if the other three had as well, they had had a significantly better education than him. Sure, Noctis had gone to the same schools as him, but the prince had also had a slew of private tutors outside of school to teach him politics, world geography, in-depth world history, and anything else a future king might need to know. Prompto knew his friends never meant it, and he knew that they knew he wasn’t incompetent, but sometimes he couldn’t help but feel lesser than them, and sometimes, he figured, they couldn’t help but feel superior to him. He wished he didn’t feel like such an idiot compared to them, but no matter what he did, the feeling always lingered.

Prompto let out a long, tired sigh, or least tried to. Midway through it turned into a yelp when one foot hit the heel of the other and he was falling, once again, to meet the hard ground.

The bag fell out of his arms, which in the moment he considered good as it let him use his arms to soften the fall. Thanks to his arms, his skull didn’t make contact with the rough cement and he didn’t get a concussion. However, everything from the bag spilled out across the ground and there was a clear shattering sound as the potions broke open. A quick look up brought the sight of the curative liquids evaporating into the air, along with any hopes of getting good points in Ignis’s figurative book.

Prompto pressed his forehead onto the cement and let out a groan. He didn’t bother to open his eyes or look up when he heard footsteps approaching him. He could practically  _ feel  _ the loathing coming from Ignis.

“What did I tell you?” Ignis asked, his tone like that of a disappointed mother who knew she shouldn’t have trusted her child.

“To be careful,” The younger man replied begrudgingly.

“And what did you do?”

“I made a snappy comment and then didn’t pay attention to where I was going and tripped!” He rolled himself over and sat up, sending a glare in Ignis’s direction. “Are you happy that you were right about my ‘two left feet’?”

The adviser simply shook his head and began picking up spilled items. “A waste of good money…” He muttered.

“Hey, at least nothing else broke,” Noctis cut in before Prompto could snap again. He knew what the blonde was like on the rare occasion he got angry, and this was clearly one of those moments. “Remedies, antidotes… yeah, completely intact. We have plenty of potions with our gear, so don’t worry about it.”

“We needed those for our hunts, th-”

“Ignis.” His tone said it all. This was not the time to argue.

The two started picking up the purchased goods and the glass. Prompto was about to start helping, it was his mess after all, but a sweet voice called his attention away.

“Oh, would ya look at that! You’re bleedin’!” Cindy said sympathetically. “C’mere, I got some disinfectant and bandaids for when I get cuts and scrapes workin’ in the garage.”

Before he could even reply, Cindy had grabbed his and yanked him to his feet, and was dragging him towards the garage. She was a lot stronger than she appeared, which was really no surprise and honestly only increased his affection towards her. Once in the garage, she started digging through a box that sat inside her tool kit, and only then was Prompto able to assess the damage. He was, in fact, bleeding. Not much, but he had managed to scrape both of his arms in the fall. It was mostly just scraped up dead skin, but a few spots were bleeding sluggishly, having been cut deeper. Cindy came back over a moment later, cleaned up the scrapes, put a stinging disinfectant on them, and plastered bandaids over the bleeding the spots.

“There ya go, all fixed up!” She announced cheerily.

“Thanks…” Prompto said, lacking cheer despite having just been treated by his crush. His anger add given way to his self-loathing already.

“You alright there, Prompto?” Cindy tilted her head with a slight frown of concern on her face. Oh, she was just far too nice. “You didn’t do that much damage, if you’re so worried.”

“Oh, no, it’s just-” He choked on his words for a second. “Just… hasn’t been the best few days for me,” He admitted, shrugging. He could feel a bit of heat rising to his cheeks, the embarrassment again. He was really setting quite the pathetic impression for her. “It’ll get better, though.” He on a soft smile, hoping it would quell any friendly worries she had.

It seemed to work. “Ooh, I know what those days are like! Well, ya can’t have good without bad, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks for patching me up! I, uh, I better get going.” He gestured over his shoulder outside.

“No problem! Wouldn’t want ya left there bleedin’.” She waved as he started to walk away. “The car should be ready in a couple’a days. See ya then!”

Prompto turned away with a smile. The smile dropped when he saw Ignis again. Man, how much more could he possibly do to piss the guy off? He was starting to believe that he really was some special kind of idiot. He tried to push the thought from his mind by averting his eyes from the bespectacled man.

 

Needless to say, when Ignis and Gladio went to barter prices for items they didn’t need anymore, Prompto followed Noctis to the diner to pick up some hunts. Maybe there was still a bit of a chance to redeem himself, if he fought well. It was only the beginning of a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this is late! I got caught up in school stuff, and then the holidays, and then the return to school. But now I'm back, and part three is up. Although it's shorter than the last chapter, it took me longer to write, but I really like how it turned out. I've also beaten FFXV at this point, and boy, was that a ride!  
> Chapter four will be up by the end of the month. I have midterms coming up, so I'm taking more time to study than to write, and I've started work on other fanfics and some original stories, and I have two essays that need to be written by the end of the week. That's why it's gonna take a little for the next part to come out.  
> Thank you all so much for the feedback! It's highly appreciated and helps me to know if what I'm doing is working. Please continue to comment, it always makes my day, and don't be afraid to give me some constructive criticism, it helps a lot. Even just telling me of a tiny spelling or grammatical error is super helpful!  
> And remember, Prompto is not the most reliable of narrators. Ignis doesn't actually loathe him.  
> ~Mel


	4. The Cactuar

They picked up three well-paying hunts. They weren’t too difficult, nothing like the daemon hunts, but they provided a bit of a challenge worthy of their bounty. All they had to do was take down a pack of voretooths, get rid of a few garulessas, and find a cactuar that had been terrorizing the area. Pretty simple, even by Prompto’s untrained standards. Well, maybe not the cactuar, but they’d fought enough of the other two monsters for him to know what he was doing. He could figure out the cactuar on the fly.

They started with the voretooths as they figured they would be the easiest to take down in the shortest amount of time. They were more agile and there was always the off-chance that you would get poisoned, but they went down in far fewer hits than anyone could dream of downing a garulessa in. Noctis and Ignis handled most of the pack, the two being the best at quick, close-range combat with Noct’s engine blade and Iggy’s daggers. Gladio’s broadsword wasn’t good for fast-paced combat and Prompto was still getting the hang of aiming at speedy moving targets. He managed to get a few good shots in, at least.

Next, they moved onto the garulessas. They took lunch to recover from the first battle and to prep themselves up for the next. Garulessas weren’t horrendously difficult, but they were a bit of tough work, and taking out one garulessa meant taking out the entire herd- garulessas, garulas, and garulets, no one left behind. The fight was significantly easier, albeit more time-consuming, than the last. The beasts were slow-moving and natural human agility gave them the upperhand. Gladio and Noct, broadswords in hand, did most of the heavy damage while Prompto and Ignis stuck to simple incapacitation and killing blows. A couple poison bullets knocked the smaller ones down fast, leaving them open for attack. They took down the herd in record time with nearly speechless teamwork.

When they finished, the sun was beginning to set, so they set up camp for the night. Ignis cooked the obvious choice of garulessa steak, since they had a fresh stock of it. Prompto ended up with the toughest piece there was- Clearly Ignis was still mad at him for that morning and was punishing him by giving him the less satisfying food… or maybe it was a complete coincidence with no malicious intent behind it. He liked to think it was the first. The irritation of the thought made it easier to chew his food.

“...Prompto, were you listening to a word I just said?” Ignis questioned, calling the blonde out of thoughts.

He gave him a look like a chocobo in the headlights. “Um, what if I said no?”

Iggy’s dramatic eye roll sent daggers through him. He cringed, but only a little. He couldn’t let on to how he was feeling. There was no way he would be able to live it down if they figured it out.

“C’mon, Iggy, he was eating,” Gladio said. “A good man focuses on good food!”

“Like your Cup Noodles?” Noctis snickered.

“Exactly.” He completely missed the point. Noctis chuckled into his food.

“Well, then allow me to repeat myself,” Ignis replied, sending a small glare in both men’s direction. They both looked away from him. They knew what that glare meant. It meant ‘shut up, stop defending him’, and they got the message pretty quickly.

Ignis turned his attention back to Prompto, who had pulled his legs up onto his chair to make himself feel smaller, and safer.

“We must remain cautious tomorrow. Cactuars may look cute and friendly, but they are  _ far  _ from it,” He explained.

“Especially when they’re shooting one-thousand needles at you,” Noctis added in, tiredly mocking his advisor’s tone.

Ignis threw him an equally tired glare, which Noctis met with an even, unamused gaze. “Anyway,” He continued. “Noct is correct. Watch out for when they shoot their needles at you. It’s known to be a very effective and occasionally deadly attack.”

Prompto shrunk back in his chair. “Occasionally deadly?” He asked weakly. He really should have payed attention during his science classes back in school.

“Yes, deadly. What else would you expect? Needles can pierce arteries, the eyes, the neck, the stomach-”

“Quit scaring the kid,” Gladio interrupted, an oddly sharp edge in his voice. Usually he was all for freaking the blonde out.

Ignis paused and blinked, seeming to not have noticed the tangent he had been going on. Prompto let out a quiet breath of relief, not having realized himself how scared he was getting. In all honesty, he was scared of pretty much everything they did, except when it involved chocobos or outposts. Everyone in the group of aware of it, but everyone, including himself, largely ignored it. He had to keep a brave face, for Noct.

“Right, well.” Ignis cleared his throat. “Do be careful tomorrow. Cactuars are dangerous. They’re very fast and very clever. Don’t do anything to anger it too much and we should be able to take it down quickly.”

“Right,” Prompto said, nodding. Be careful with the cactuar, and be careful to listen to Ignis whenever he talks. He marked both things down in his mind for later.

The next morning was the same as almost every other morning. Iggy got up first and made breakfast, Prompto and Gladio followed soon after, and someone had to drag Noctis out of his dreams. It was Gladio’s turn this time, much to Prompto’s fortune. After almost being tackled and still falling on his face the day before, he wasn’t raring to get the prince up again.

It was nearly ten by the time they were all ready to go, or at least by the time Noct was. Everyone else was prepared long before him. They headed towards the area the pesky cactuar was reported to be in. A large formation of boulders loomed over their heads, blocking the blistering sun from their eyes, but not blocking the dusty breeze from their nostrils and throats. They staked out near the boulders in hopes that the cactuar would make an appearance before sunset.

They waited for hours, and hours, and hours. Maybe not that long, but they were sitting around well into the late afternoon. They were all growing varying levels of antsy and tired as time continued to tick slowly on with no appearance from the cactuar. It didn't help that there was nothing to do while they waited- nothing around that they could hunt, no wifi so they could play King’s Knight, nothing besides sitting around, waiting, and being forced to train by Gladio. Even if there was anything else to do, somebody had to be the designated look-out for their elusive little friend.

Prompto huffed, making himself sound as bored and miserable as he was. His skin felt like it was drying out from all the heat and his lungs felt like they were filled to the brim with dust. He really wished they could go back to their campsite from the previous night, where they were next to a nice, wet forest and the air wasn’t so damn dry.

He kicked at a rock but only managed to miss and kick up more dust. He stared at the offending pebble in tired dismay, as though it were its fault for not moving. The blonde let out a long, irritated sigh, hoping to get the tension of impatience out if his chest.

“How much longer do we have to be?” He whined, turning his heads towards where Ignis and Noctis were camped out near the boulders.

“Not too long, if we want to avoid night,” Ignis replied, his voice as even as ever. It quickly switched to a more annoyed tone. “But if you don’t quit whining like a child, I’ll stop considering buying your beloved peanut butter.”

Prompto gaped in surprise at the older man. He had  _ actually _ been considering buying peanut butter for him? He shut his mouth, not trusting himself to say anything that wasn’t whiny. He couldn’t risk the peanut butter.

Not knowing what else to do, he plodded towards the boulders and sat down on one that was close to the ground. Gladio stood nearby, arms crossed, head down, and eyes closed. Knowing him, he was either meditating to pass the time or dozing off. It was more likely he was doing both. Noctis sat just a bit beyond him, picking gravel out of the treads of his boots with a dagger he had summoned up. Ignis was on Prompto’s other side, behind his back, keeping an ever-careful eye out for their target as they all should have been doing, although the three had given up a few hours before.

Prompto pulled a leg up onto the rock and rested his chin on it. He was tempted to make some noise to mark his displeasure, but Ignis’s nerves were already frayed and he was sure Gladio and Noct were just a step behind him. He stifled his urges, and tried to think of a joke or some topic or conversation to lighten the mood. On any other day he would have already been goofing around and making sure everybody else wasn’t too terribly bored, but after his mess-ups over the past few days, it was difficult to really think of anything except for what he could potentially do wrong. He couldn’t really be the emotional support if he couldn’t emotionally support himself. Usually he pushed aside his own emotions for the sake of his friends, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that now. It was an awful situation and he only had himself to blame for it.

He decided he needed a distraction. If he couldn’t resolve the issue and cheer everyone up, he could at least temporarily pull himself out his funk. The blonde looked around, looking for something to distract himself with. Just like before, there seemed to be nothing, but Prompto kept looking anyway. He wasn’t one to gloss over details unless they were written in a textbook, but everyone missed things sometimes. Anyway, he was better at reading people than environments.

Sure enough, after searching for a few minutes he noticed a strange break in the boulders very near to where he was sitting. The break, barely noticeable in the shadows, was just small where it began but widened slightly as it reached the ground. The opening was tiny, just big enough for a small creature to slip in and out of.

He decided to look inside. Leaning over, he tried to peer through the break, but it was far too dark inside the boulders to tell much beyond the fact that there was definitely a tiny cave. The only other thing he could make out was a shadowy mass, somehow darker than the rest of the little cave. For a second he thought it moved, but was disappointed to realize he was probably just imagining things, and it was more than likely the mass was just a dislodged rock.

Then it did moved. Suddenly, like a flash of lightning, it moved to opening of the little cave. Prompto yelped and stumbled back in surprise.

It was the freaking cactuar.

“Prom!” Noctis exclaimed.

Prompto scrambled further back as the little green monster bolted past him and into the open. He jumped back onto his feet and summoned up his gun. He fired a few shots, grabbing the cactuar’s attention while his friends summoned up their own weapons and mustered up whatever plans they had lost in their previous boredom.

Getting the cactuar’s attention was  _ not  _ a good idea. The thing was pissed off and ready to fight, and Prompto was now a target.

Painful, almost burning little stabs sparked in the arm. The blonde shrieked and dropped to the ground to avoid the rest of the barrage, covering his face protectively and curling up in a ball. He could hear the rest of the fight, his friends shouting commands and grunting in effort. It was over quickly, ending with a loud  _ splat  _ and a strange  _ crack _ .

Prompto tried to uncurl himself, but winced when he tried to move his left arm. He managed to sit himself up without aggravating the pain too much, and looked, somewhat fearfully, to see the source of his pain. Tons of little needles, possibly hundreds, stuck out his arm like hair on its end.

Noctis dropped down next to him, breathing harshly after the fight. “You alright?” He asked between breaths.

“I-” He hissed in pain. “Kind of.”

“Man, that looks pretty bad,” Gladio commented as he walked over to them, sword slung over his shoulder.

“No shit,” Prompto huffed.

“No need to get snippy,” Ignis said, kneeling next to him. He pulled the blonde’s arm up sharply to inspect the damage. Prompto gasped and had to bite his tongue to stop himself from screaming. “Well, I don’t believe you’ll have much more than several hundred scabs and maybe some bruising.” He stood back up and started walking away. “Come along, the supplies I need to remove the needles are back at our camp.”

Prompto got back onto his feet with Noctis’s help, feeling worse than ever. He botched his chance at redemption. “You could’ve been gentler,” He complained.

“It’s your own fault, once again,” The older man sighed incredulously. “I did tell you to be careful.”

“That’s cold,” Gladio said, though there was a hint of humor in his voice.

“He made a good distraction, at least,” Noct added.

The rest of the walk back to camp was silent. They were all tired, and Prompto was emotionally drained. No one, not even Noct, made light of his unusual quietness, probably guessing that he was just in a bad mood from the pain of needles being imbedded in his arm. Well, he was in a bad mood for far more than that.

He wondered if Ignis were actually mad at him at this point, or just annoyed at his idiocy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took ten million years longer to write and post than I intended. I had to focus on school, and I'm going to have to until the end of May, when I graduate, so I can't promise when I'll be able to post the next one.  
> Please, continue giving me feedback! It's highly appreciated!  
> ~Mel


	5. The Alphatusk

It took an hour to get all of the needles out of Prompto’s arm. He bit down on his tongue the entire time, trying not to yell or cry, but having tiny needles ripped out of his skin hurt like a bitch. He couldn’t help but whimper occasionally, and he detested the looks he would get from Noct and Gladio when he did, even if they were concerned or sympathetic.

As soon as his arm was free of cactuar needles and wiped down with a disinfectant that stung almost as badly, Prompto went to bed. He rarely resigned himself to sleep before the prince and even more rarely without eating dinner, but he was too exhausted, physically and mentally, to do anything else. Maybe the human version of ‘turning off and on again’ would work its magic on him and he’d feel better when he woke up once again.

He woke up feeling nothing. It wasn’t that unusual, though, as it generally took him a moment or two to blink away sleep and remember where he was and what they were doing. This time, the lack of feeling lingered. He welcomed it, somewhat. It was better than feeling something bad.

Unfortunately for him, the feeling of nothingness plummeted the second he stepped out of the tent. As always, Ignis was already up, preparing breakfast and gradually putting away his things so they could leave as quickly as their prince allowed. Prompto cringed internally at the memories of the past few days at the sight of the older man. He tried not to show his reaction outwardly, forcing a yawn to cover up anything he might have shown as him still waking up.

Ignis glanced up from his cooking for a second. “Good morning,” He greeted casually, as though nothing was going on. Prompto was slightly relieved. Seemed like his pretending to be alright was working.

“Mornin’,” He responded, forcing another yawn to make up for the lack of his usual cheer.

“Sleep alright?”

“Uh, yeah.” He shrugged and sat down.

Ignis hummed. “You’re yawning quite a bit.”

He just shrugged again and tried to keep his expression neutral. “I mean, I just woke up, so yeah.”

Prompto almost felt blessed by the Astrals when Gladio stepped out of the tent, effectively ending any further small talk between the two younger men. The burly man stretched the sleep out of himself, letting out a long and obnoxiously loud yawn as he did.

“See? People yawn in the mornings,” Prompto said quickly so as to not seem too distant. Ignis was easiest to make suspicious, so he was really going to have to play this up if he wanted everyone to think he was alright.

“You’re going to wake Noctis,” The bespectacled man said to Gladio.

“Isn’t that the point?” He chuckled.

“Hm. I suppose.”

It wasn’t horrendously long until they were all up. Noctis got out of bed within in a half an hour thanks to how excessively loud Gladio was being, making him the new bearer of the fictitious ‘shortest amount of time to get Noctis awake without ripping off his blanket’ award. With everyone awake, no matter how annoyed at that fact they were, the group could get going with whatever they had to do that day. Which was… Prompto had no clue, honestly. If they had discussed anything the night before, he had missed it, having gone to bed so early.

“Hey, uh, what’re we doing today?” He asked, addressing no one in particular.

“That depends,” Ignis replied. Prompto tried not to frown, as he was hoping someone else would answer so he wouldn’t have to deal with anymore fresh pangs of guilt and sadness. He wished the feelings would just go away, that he would just  _ get over it already _ . He knew he was being completely irrational but the feelings and doubts and insecurities just wouldn’t leave. They never did. Ignis continued, turning towards Gladio. “Did Cindy message you back yet?”

“Wait a second!” Surprise overtook Prompto’s guilt for just a second. “You have Cindy’s number? Since when?”

Gladio snorted a laugh. “Since yesterday, when you broke all those potions,” He teased. The blonde let himself frown at that comment. “She needed a way to contact us, so she gave me an’ Noct her number.”

“Even  _ Noct  _ got her number?” He couldn’t help but pout. He really had no chance with her, did he?

“Yeah. So she can give us updates on the car,” Noctis attempted to reassure him.

“Anyway,” Ignis said, pulling the conversation back to the original topic. “Did she message you back or not?” His calm tone from earlier had disappeared, being replaced with a much more irritated one. It seemed Prompto wasn’t the only one trying to cover up how he felt. Ignis was just as pissed as he had thought he was. Great to know, Prompto thought, disappointed that he was right for once.

“Yeah, she did, cool your jets.” Gladio took out his phone to read the texts back to everyone. “She said that she’s almost done, but she found something up with the axle and fixing it is going to cost a bit more. I told her to go ahead with it, that we’ll just find another hunt or two to make up the money.”

“When can we get the car back?” Noctis asked. He seemed anxious to get back in the regalia. No one could blame him, what with it being his father’s car and their only ride to, well, anywhere.

“Tomorrow,” the older man responded without hesitation, which seemed to sate the prince some. “Just means we need to get the money today.”

Ignis sighed. “Lovely. How much does it cost?”

“Only fifty thousand more gil.”

“Oh, that’s not too bad.”

Prompto almost choked on his own spit. He often forgot just how  _ rich  _ all of his friends were, and it always took him by surprise when they thought of tens of thousands of gil as nothing much.

“Prom?” Noctis raised an eyebrow at him.

“Huh?” He replied.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Well, uh…” He didn’t like the looks he was getting from the group. Especially not the look Ignis was giving him. He didn’t know if it was intentional or not, but it made him feel like even more of an idiot. Of course he was getting stared at, they just didn’t get it. He grew up in borderline poverty, and they were all rich kids of rich parents from long lines of rich ancestors. He forced a small smile on his face to try to cover up his suddenly worsening feelings of inferiority, though he wasn’t sure he was doing a good job of it anymore. “My mom doesn’t even make that much in a  _ week _ .”

They grew silent. And awkward. Prompto wanted to scream. He should have just said that he had seen a big bug or something. That would have made them snicker at his stupid little phobia and they would have moved on quickly, but no, he had to go and point out just how  _ different  _ their backgrounds were. He knew they didn’t care that he wasn’t rich, but sometimes he couldn’t help but wonder if they looked down on him for it, whether or not they meant to.

After a moment of painfully awkward silence, Ignis suggested they get moving. Everyone agreed with little hesitation. Moving meant they could focus on their end task rather than wallowing in awkwardness and whatever else they were all feeling. At least the older three could. Prompto wasn’t so sure he could keep his feelings at bay for much longer, even with a job to do to distract him.

They made it to the nearest outpost, the same one as before, fairly quickly, and took up a well-paying hunt just as fast. A lone alphatusk was making travel on the nearest highway extremely dangerous, attacking any and all vehicles that drove by. Where its pack had gone and why it was suddenly attacking anything that moved was a mystery, but it was growing increasingly more hostile and needed to be dealt with before someone was killed. The high danger of the hunt called for the high reward, which covered their new costs and much more beyond that. Although he was worried about his own inexperience in battle, especially after yesterday’s incident, Prompto knew that if he just stuck to shooting from the sidelines the other three could easily pick up the slack.

Because of the increased danger compared to their other hunts, they took the time to sit down and make a proper plan, rather than going with some vague idea like they had with the cactuar. Ignis took over the planning, being the strategic prodigy that he apparently was.

They sat in a booth at the local Crow’s Nest, listening to Ignis explain the difference between a normal sabertusk and an alphatusk and how to go about killing one while they ate.

“Now, an alphatusk is much larger than the average sabertusk. It has increased muscle mass and thusly increased strength. What it gains in strength, it loses somewhat in speed. It is by no means slow, but it should be an easier target than other sabertusks, especially for you.” He looked pointedly at Gladio, who despite his strength and skill was still the slowest of the group. He sent a quick glare towards Noctis, who was picking the vegetables off of his food, before continuing. “However the beast is known to be far more hostile than normal, and this aggressiveness may cause it to be both stronger and faster than usual, due to sheer adrenaline. It will likely also make it less predictable, but simultaneously easier to injure as it will not be focused on self preservation, rather attacking what it perceives to be a threat.”

“You sure can talk a lot,” Gladio grumbled. He sighed, leaning back in his seat and throwing his arm over the back of it. “So, what’s the point?”

“I think he means ‘what’s our strategy?’,” Noctis translated.

“I will get to that in a moment.” Ignis turned to look at the blonde sitting next to him. “Prompto, do you care to repeat what I said?”

Prompto was taken slightly aback by the condescending teacher-like tone the older man used, but pushed the feeling to the side the best he could. He put his burger down before he could even take another bite. “Alphatusks are bigger and stronger but also slower, but it’ll probably be  _ even  _ stronger and faster because of how pissed off it is, but it also won’t care about not getting injured because it’s busy attacking us.”

“Very good,” Ignis replied. Prompto hid his frown with his burger.

Gladio narrowed his eyes. “What was the point in that?”

“I had to make sure he was listening, as he seems to have a habit of paying little or no attention.”

“Geez, Iggy, you’re being kind of harsh.”

“Sometimes ‘tough love’ is what one needs to  _ learn _ .”

“And you’d be the expert on that.”

Prompto didn’t dare to look at them as they argued, instead putting his focus into his food. He hoped everything would just calm down if he kept to the sidelines and did as he was told. If things calmed down, they would go back to normal, and he could go back to feeling  _ happy _ . But now it seemed as if his feelings were toxic, like some sort of disease spreading to everybody else and making them all angry with each other.

Noctis stopped dissecting his food and stared at his two older friends with one of his annoyed-yet-stoic expressions. “Ignis, just tell us how to kill the alphatusk, alright?”

Ignis side-glanced Noctis, looking as if he had something else he wanted to say, but he knew better than to ignore a direct order from the prince. He cleared his throat and continued. “The best method, I believe, is to corner it.”

The two youngest men shifted uncomfortably. Cornering a dangerous beast? It sounded like suicide.

“That sounds like a terrible idea,” Gladio said, clearly voicing his contempt. Whether the contempt was for the idea or if it was directed more towards Ignis himself was hard to tell.

“If you would allow me to  _ finish _ ,” Ignis replied sharply. “Noctis, you and I will lure the alphatusk out. We won’t engage it, just make it give chase.”

“Uh, okay.”

“We will lead it into the nearest open area, which we will hopefully be able to scout out beforehand. If not, we’ll have to make do. Prompto.”

The blonde sat up in his seat, shifting his focus from his food to center entirely on what Ignis was saying. He needed to listen because he absolutely could  _ not  _ mess up this time. It would be the death of him.

“You will be waiting in whatever vantage point you can find that gives you a clear view of the area. Once the alphatusk is within view, shoot it anywhere that may help to incapacitate it. The leg, the head, the neck, or around the stomach will do. Understand?”

Prompto nodded, and gave a thumbs up to further his confirmation. Find a vantage point, wait for the alphatusk to be brought into the open, shoot it somewhere that will incapacitate it. Leg, head, neck, or stomach, or more if he could manage. Easy to remember. Easy to do. He hoped.

Ignis turned his address back to the rest of the group. “That should slow the beast to a more reasonable speed. Noct, you and I will once again lead it in a chase to a more enclosed area, where we will corner it. From there, the three of us will attack as we would with an average sabertusk, although perhaps with more force. That will most certainly allow us to kill it.”

There was a moment of silence after the end of Ignis’s strategy as everyone let the information and idea sink in. It seemed reasonable enough, and while it sounded easier than it was probably going to be, it also sounded like it would work.

“Alright,” Noctis said, breaking the silence. “That’ll work.”

“Doesn’t sound  _ too  _ horrible,” Gladio grumbled.

“Wonderful.” Ignis gave a small, approving nod.

They left as soon as they had finished their food. It was a bit of hike to get to the area marked on the map as the alphatusk’s hunting grounds, but they made it within an hour. The first thing they noticed when they arrived was the dead silence, as if there weren’t even any wildlife left. The second thing they noticed was the destruction. Chunks of metal from cars and bits of broken glass were strewn across the cracked and faded pavement. The guard rails to the side of the road were dented and scratched as far as anyway could see, even broken completely through at one part. Off road, plants were torn up and destroyed, and even the rocks had bits taken out of them. All of this was punctuated by splattered droplets of blood on nearly every surface. Whether the blood belonged to people or to the alphatusk was anybody’s guess.

“Quite the sight to see,” Gladio commented.

“Indeed,” Ignis replied.

Prompto took a breath, trying to quell the growing fear in his chest. This was going to be difficult. This fight was going to be harder than any of the ones they had been in before, even the one against that stupid Imperial mech thing. He needed to calm down and focus. If he messed up his shot, it would mess up everything. They wouldn’t be able to corner the alphatusk if he messed up. They wouldn’t be able to fight it. It would run away, or worse, kill them. It hit him just how badly he couldn’t afford to mess up.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him out of the swirl of thoughts he hadn’t realized he was in. He turned to see Noct, giving him a reassuring look. Prompto sighed and gave him a nod, telling him he was alright.

“There seems not to be a large enough open area,” Ignis announced once the other two men caught up to them. Overlooking the area they could see a few open spaces, but most of it was filled with large crops of boulders. “We’ll have to make do with the clearing over there.” He gestured towards a small spot open on two ends, just barely big enough for a fight.

“It’ll make it easier to corner,” Noctis said, shrugging. “And easier to injure us.”

“It’s the best option we have.”

Prompto looked over the surrounding areas. “I could wait there!” He pointed at a tall crop of rocks that almost seemed to loom over their decided spot of attack. “It’s a bit close, but any farther and I won’t be able to see where I’m shooting.”

Ignis followed to where he was pointing. He scrutinized it for a moment, a moment which made the younger man’s chest tighten up yet again, before giving a small nod. “Good. That will work, as long as you’re careful not to hit any of us.”

“Always am!” The blonde let the little bit of pride he gained from Ignis’s statement bloom as he bounced off to his chosen spot, though it did little to end the fears he had. He had chosen a good place, but it wasn’t perfect. His confidence in himself was thin. He knew he was a good shot, he knew he could hit his target, but even then he still knew he wasn’t any good in enclosed spaces. He was telling the truth when he said he was always careful not to hit his friends on accident. That didn’t mean he could avoid it.

He jumped onto the cropping, kneeling down once he landed, and summoned up his gun. A shout caught his attention, coming from below. Noctis warped into the clearing with Ignis and the alphatusk close on his tail. They had already started fighting? When the hell had the alphatusk even come out of hiding!? He scrambled into a position better for shooting and gripped the gun tightly. Scenarios of how everything could go wrong, of how  _ he  _ could make everything go wrong flashed through his mind. He shook his head, hard, trying to push the thoughts as far away as he could. He couldn’t lose focus, not now, not in the middle of a fight, not when they were all at risk of being ripped apart by a pissed off monster!

Ignis dived out of the way the second he made it into the clearing, just as quickly rolling back onto his feet. The alphatusk barreled in after him, skidding to a stop in between the two openings, both now closed off by Noctis and Ignis.

It was the perfect target, stuck in right in the middle like that. But it was gearing itself up to attack.

As Noctis moved his sword into a defensive position, the alphatusk pounced, and Prompto fired.

He fired again. And again. And again.

There was shouting, whines and growls, the distinct sound of metal hitting and scraping on rock. Gladio joined the fray at some point. Everyone was moving too fast, Prompto couldn’t make out enough to figure out where to shoot, so he just sat and watched, terror washing over him like a giant wave.

It wasn’t too long until the alphatusk fell to the ground, twitching, no longer fighting, but it felt like a million years. Gladio brought his sword down on it with a great swing, and it let out one last whimpering yelp as it finally stopped moving.

The three men stood there for a moment, all breathing heavily. Prompto stood up from his spot, holding his breath. Then, suddenly, Noctis’s face twisted up in pain and he dropped to the ground.

Prompto let out a gasp and skittered down into the clearing.

“Noct!” He exclaimed once he reached the bottom.

Ignis was almost immediately at his throat. Prompto’s eyes went wide and he took a reflexive step backwards.

“Did you pay  _ any  _ attention at all to where you were shooting!?” The older man snapped, his voice nearly a snarl, his prim-and-proper verbiage all but gone for his pointed anger.

“I-I-” Prompto stuttered. He could feel his throat tightening and his eyes beginning to burn with tears. He had messed up, he had  _ really  _ messed up.

“You could have  _ killed  _ someone! I told you specifically to fire once, only once, and what did you do? You shot  _ four  _ times! And now you’ve injured Noctis!”

“Stop it!” Noctis shouted. “The bullet just grazed me.” But the pain in his voice was worse than a graze from a bullet would cause.

He had hurt Noctis. Oh, gods, he had  _ hurt Noctis _ . Prompto could barely breathe now with how tight his throat was, and he tried to hold back his tears no matter how badly it made his eyes burns, but he could feel them slipping down his face already.

“Are you listening to me? Do you  _ ever  _ listen!?”

“That’s enough!” Gladio’s voice boomed, causing everyone to go silent. He stood next to the two, a hand on Ignis’s chest, trying to push him away. “Go help Noct. He needs a potion.”

He glared at Prompto one last time over the top of his glasses before turning and practically stomping over to the prince. “You’re lucky the wound isn’t worse. Unfortunately, I can only give you one potion, because  _ someone  _ broke the others.”

“Ignis,” Gladio warned. The bespectacled man pretended as though he had said nothing.

“Prom, it’s alright.” A gentle hand landed on his shoulder, just like Noct’s had earlier. He broke his eyes away from his best friend to look at the older man next to him. “The bites from the alphatusk are what’s causing him pain, not some flesh wound.”

Prompto let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. Noct was injured, he had injured Noct, but so had the alphatusk. But he had still hit Noct…

“C’mon, kid, it’s fine, he’ll be fine.” Another hand landed on his other shoulder. That’s when he realized he was shaking. When had he started shaking?

He stepped back from Gladio’s touch and wiped at his eyes. “I-I know. It’s fine. I’m fine.”

Gladio didn’t seem convinced, but he knew better than to push the younger man. He turned his attention to the dead alphatusk, cutting off its claws to gives as proof of their success.

Prompto just turned away. He had messed up,  _ again _ . This time wasn’t like the other times, either. He had  _ shot at Noctis _ . That wasn’t forgivable, not like ripping the tent or getting one-thousand needled by a cactuar or dropping some potions were eventually forgivable. Everyone was mad. Noctis was mad at being hurt, Ignis was mad at him, and Gladio was clearly mad even if he tried to be comforting and kind. It was his fault. If he had just been better, this wouldn’t have happened. It wasn’t forgivable.

He just knew it wasn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a lot longer than I wanted, but life has to come first and a ton of things have been happening in my life. Speaking of which, I'm starting college soon so I can't make a promise the last chapter won't take several months to write, as well.  
> I feel like this chapter is somewhat disjointed because of how long it took me to write it, but I doubt it's anything horrible. My apologies for that, however.  
> In other news, I'd just like to remind everyone that while this story is in third person, it's still from Prompto's perspective. He is not a reliable narrator as everything is clouded by his own feelings and insecurities surrounding the events. The others are experiencing their own issues, emotions, and worries as well. Don't forget that!  
> Thank you all for sticking around despite how long it takes me to write everything up. I really, really appreciate it.  
> ~Mel


	6. The Campsite

The walk back to the outpost was the tensest walk Prompto had ever experienced in his life. No one spoke, except for the occasional hiss of pain from Noctis. Gladio helped him, keeping an arm around his shoulders to support him, as he couldn’t walk on his own with a shot and bitten ankle. The potion was taking effect, but it was working slowly. Ignis lead the group, staying close enough to Noctis to keep an eye on him, but mostly he remained ahead of everyone, clearly trying to keep a lid on his angry fuming. Prompto held up the rear, lagging behind as much as he could without seeming suspicious. He just wanted to be alone at this point, to wallow in his pity in some dark corner away from the anger and the burning gazes, but that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon since they had to share a tent, a hotel room, a car.

Unless they decided to kick him to the curb.

He shook his head. They wouldn’t do that… Would they?

When they reached the outpost Gladio went into the Crow’s Nest to collect the bounty while Ignis went to the nearby convenience store to haggle for some more curatives. Noct sat on the bench outside of the restaurant, next to the creepy plastic statue of Kenny Crow. Prompto sat himself on the ground, keeping his distance from Noctis for fear of doing anything stupid enough to get someone else hurt. It was only a few minutes before Gladio walked out, texting Cindy already. A quick look showed that the garage doors were closed, meaning she was too busy with her work to talk directly with anyone. A few more minutes before Ignis came back over with a single potion in hand, which he handed to Noctis. It seemed like they may have been out already. They must have used a few others during the battle.

“Cindy says we can have the car back tomorrow morning,” Gladio announced, stuffing his phone back in his pocket. “Hand her the money, she’ll hand us the keys.”

Ignis sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Wonderful. We haven’t the funds for the hotel, or even for one of the caravans.”

“We’ll have to camp out, so what?” Noctis chimed in grumpily. “It’s not like we’ve been doing that for the past few nights in a row, or anything.”

His adviser's sharp eyes fixed a gaze on him, but the prince didn’t look up to be able to notice it. “Fine, then. We’ll camp out again.”

“Do we have enough to grab a bite to eat?” Gladio asked.

Ignis let out another sigh. “We have no other food with us currently besides junk food, so I suppose.”

The meal was nearly as tense as the walk had been. They left as soon as they finished eating, making for the nearest haven. However, the haven was already taken by a group of hunters. Begrudgingly, the four men began a search for somewhere safe enough to spend the night.

The sun was almost completely below the horizon before they found anywhere even remotely safe. A nice, vegetated spot right off of the road, not too far from the outpost. It seemed like the perfect spot to spend the night, one unlikely to be attacked by anything more than a lost goblin or two.

It was a bit too perfect.

Gladio dropped the tent with a relieved sigh, stretching his back out.

“Be careful with that! We only have the one,” Ignis scolded.

“Oh, calm down.” There was an edge to the otherwise joking statement.

“Seriously,” Noctis added.

Tensions remained high as they went about setting up the camp. The three older men bickered amongst themselves as they did. Prompto knew it was his fault they were even behaving like that, because he had messed up, making them all take sides in their own minds, making them all pissed off with each other.

But for once, that wasn’t at the front of his mind.

What was concerning him was the campsite. Not setting it up, because no matter what he did the two oldest men handled nearly everything. No, the place was just  _ too  _ too perfect. Not even perfect in the sense that it was a good stroke of luck. It was more like a deus ex machina, if anything. Like a poorly done ‘the power of friendship!’ attack that saves the day in a kid’s cartoon.

He wasn’t entirely sure what was so  _ off  _ about it other than the weird perfection and convenience of it, but it was setting his nerves even further on edge than they already were, if that were even possible. He looked around, trying to figure it out. It was kind of strange to find such a grassy, leafy area here. It wouldn’t be so odd if they were near the haven they had stayed at next to the forest, but they were kind of far from that despite the relatively equal distance from the outpost. Yet here it was, a lushly planted oasis smack in the middle of a rocky, dusty region. There were even flowers, two pink circles of them that almost seemed to shape skirts. Then there were those jagged tooth-like things covered in moss sticking out from what he had figured were rocks or mounds of dirt or something, and all the vine-like plants covering pretty much everything. It reminded him of something, something he had learned about years ago in school, if only he could-

Ochus.

This was a resting ground for ochus.

Prompto’s heart dropped into the icy depths of his stomach. “Guys,” He tried to say, but the word barely came out. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Guys! I-I don’t think we should stay here!”

“And where else would you suggest we stay, Prompto?” Ignis huffed. “The haven is taken and it’s far too late to go looking for another one, lest we wish to be on the end of an iron giant’s blade!”

Everyone was staring at him now, but he barely noticed that. All he could see was where Ignis was standing and the teeth slowly beginning to close.

“Ignis, move!” Prompto shouted, running towards him.

“Wha-” He couldn’t even finish the word before Prompto was grabbing him by the collar, yanking him out of the ochu’s mouth and pushing him to the ground.

The ochu’s mouth snapped closed a second later, missing Ignis’s ankle by mere inches. Prompto summoned up his gun and started shooting at where he thought its eyes were, praying he didn’t miss in the rush.

Green goo, presumably the creature’s blood, sprayed out whenever a bullet hit its skin. One shot caused the goo to gush out and flow down its face. It let out a shriek, the single most unearthly, painful noise to ever hit Prompto’s ears. He flinched but kept firing. A long, arm like appendage ripped itself out of the earth, pulling up vines and dirt and grass as it did. Realizing it was about to swing, Prompto turned to start running, but he was too late. The ochu swung its arm and hit him, the thorn-like spikes on the end ripping into his side and shoulder. He went flying and slammed right into a second ochu, just now rising from the sounds of the fighting. He fell to the ground and rolled to a stop, right on his fresh wounds. He heard someone scream his name, but he couldn’t react. His side was burning with pain and he could  _ feel  _ the warm blood leaking out from his shoulder.

He barely had time to process any thoughts of what could happen to him, let alone what  _ had  _ happened to him, when muscular arms lifted him up and suddenly they were moving, onto the street and away from the campsite. They were already a decent distance when the ochus, big and slow as they were, started to pull themselves out of the ground to chase after them. Prompto tilted his head back to see what was going on. Noctis and Ignis stopped running and turned, each with a spell flask in their hand. Ignis threw his first. It exploded on contact with the creatures, coating them in a thick black liquid- Oil, it was an oil spell. Noctis threw his flask immediately afterwards. The ochus erupted in flames which spread quickly over them, like a wildfire spreading through a field of dry grass. They shrieked and hissed in pain, nearly sounding like people with the way they screamed. The horrible sounds ended quickly, however, as the creatures were soon completely engulfed by the flames.

For a moment, everything was still. Other than the fire slowly dancing and crackling over the bodies of the ochus, no one moved. The rush of events almost felt like a dream now that they were out of danger.

But then reality came crashing back down. The sharp pain in his shoulder pulled Prompto’s attention back to himself. He whimpered and gritted his teeth.

“Put me… put me down, please,” He said, breathless, pushing lightly at Gladio’s chest. The older man carefully, although reluctantly, placed him on his feet. He didn’t stay there for long as he sat down on the road as soon as there were no hands on him.

“Prompto!” Running steps came up behind him, and suddenly Noctis was kneeling at his uninjured side. “Prom, are you- oh, gods, you’re not alright.”

“I-I’m  _ fine _ .” But he wasn’t, and he knew that. Blood was making his shirt stick to his back. He whimpered again and bit down on nothing harder as a fresh wave of pain washed over him. He screwed his eyes shut tight, trying not to let any tears slip out.

“Bullshit,” Gladio growled, but there was a softness to his tone.

A hand gently touched his arm, near the wound. Prompto flinched away and fell right into Noctis, who just held him up.

“Prompto, I need to see the extent of the injury,” Ignis said. His voice was soft and calm, had no hint of harshness and anger that was in it before. It even sounded regretful.

Prompto didn’t want anyone touching him. He may not have had as much experience with pain and injuries as the other three men had, especially Noctis, but he knew from the stomachaches that had plagued him since childhood that he did  _ not  _ like to be touched when he was in pain. But Ignis needed to check the wound. Make sure he wasn’t bleeding to death, make sure he didn’t need a hospital. He grit his teeth even harder, wishing they would crack and distract him from his shoulder, and pushed himself off of Noctis so he was sitting up again. Noct kept a hand on his arm, and he resisted the urge to yank it away.

Ignis was as careful as he could manage to be, but checking out a wound was not a painless process. It stung and it burned and Prompto was almost beyond tempted to punch something. He wasn’t sure where he had dug up the self control not to lash out from.

The older man made comments about the wound as he carefully inspected it, but Prompto didn’t listen. It didn’t matter to him. He just wanted a potion, or painkillers, or kick to the fucking head,  _ anything  _ to make it so he didn’t have to feel his shoulder anymore. The next thing he really paid attention to was Gladio kneeling in front of him.

“Think you can walk? Maybe with some help?” He asked, holding a hand out.

“...Yeah.” It wasn’t like his legs were broken, even if they were shaking like jello. When had he started shaking? He grabbed Gladio’s hand and was hauled onto his feet like a ragdoll. Noctis slipped under Prompto’s good arm, supporting his weight with his own uninjured arm and shoulder.

“C’mon, buddy,” The prince said softly. “We’ll get you a potion when we get back to the outpost. Iggy says you’ll be fine ‘til then.”

Prompto tried to smile, for Noct’s sake and possibly for his own as well, but he couldn’t get his face to work right and ended up grimacing. “Yeah. I can make it,” He quickly added. Noctis gave him a soft smile, trying to be comforting.

They walked slowly, because Prompto couldn’t get his legs to move any faster, not with all the shaking. Pain gripped his side with each movement, which just made him even slower. He tried to move faster, work past the pain and the weakness and the growing exhaustion and nausea. Noct and Ignis kept telling him to slow down, calm down, everything was going to be fine, but the sun was almost completely down and darkness meant daemons and daemons meant more fighting and with him they way he was, he’d be useless and-

He looked up to see the dull neon glow of the motel’s ‘open’ sign. They had been moving so slowly, yet they were already at the outpost. Prompto blinked at the lights, confused. He looked back down, suddenly a bit dizzy.

Noctis sat him down on a bench, right next to the creepy statue of Kenny Crow. Ignis was already heading towards the convenience store, and the prince scrambled to catch up with him.

“We’ll be right back! Gladio, stay with him!” He called before disappearing into the store.

“How ya doin’, buddy?” Gladio asked, appearing in his field of vision. He knelt in front of him again.

Prompto wanted to answer properly but he was almost completely out of breath and just couldn't seem to catch it. He gave a thumbs up instead, which didn’t seem to satisfy Gladio as he patted his friend’s uninjured arm.

“Deep breaths.”

He  _ was  _ taking deep breaths, but he still couldn’t pull enough oxygen into his lungs. He hadn’t realized just walking with a shoulder injury, even a bad one, would take some much out of him. His heart was pounding, too, and heat washed over him in waves. Was it really just the walk that him so exhausted? Maybe, but there was something else about ochus that they had learned in class, something about…

Prompto’s stomach lurched. He shot to his feet. Gladio fell back, and Prompto wretched, spilling all of the contents of his stomach onto the faded pavement. He dry heaved for a good minute afterward, Gladio bracing his side, until dizziness made him fall back onto the pavement himself, sitting down with a dull thud.

“Geez, I didn’t think an injury would make your stomach problems act up,” Gladio said, worried but still retaining some calmness. “Iggy, hurry it up!” He shouted towards the store.

Prompto winced, and the second there was even the smallest bit of air in his lungs he let out a whine, high pitched and desperate for relief.

Gladio started running his fingers through the younger man’s blond hair. “Shh, you’ll be alright. It’s okay, Prom. Iggy and No ct’ll be out in a minute.”

But it wasn’t alright. His stomach problems didn’t act up because of pain, they only acted up when he act things his digestive system couldn’t handle. Poison. This was poison. That’s the other thing they had learned about ochus, that sometimes their hits poisoned you. He was having some  _ great  _ luck.

“I-I-I…” He tried to say, but the words slipped away in his breathlessness.

“What is it, Prom?”

He sucked in the deepest breath he could. “Need an antidote.” He forced the words out, and watched the expression on Gladio’s face go from worried but comforting to grave and terrified.

“IGGY!”

Ignis practically came barreling out of the store, followed by Noctis. “I have it, I have it!”

“He needs an antidote.”

The other two made the same expression as their friend. Ignis looked back at Noctis, who blanked for a second before running off towards the convenience store once again.

“Drink this first,” Ignis said, though his tone was shaky. He pulled the top off of a potion bottle. “Noct will get the antidote, but drink this first.”

Prompto took the bottle and despite his shaking dumped this entire thing into his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp. It took effect almost immediately, pain receding rapidly. He could feel the wound beginning to close up, though he knew it would still take time.

His stomach still churned and he still felt like he was burning up. Poison could last for hours, he knew that too. Noctis came running back out of the store, a green bottle in hand. Ignis quickly took it from him and ripped off the top, dumping its contents into Prompto’s mouth himself.

It only took a minute before the nausea went away and he could breath again. Suddenly, he felt cold. He sat up properly, careful and slow in his movements, only really feeling the cool night air on his skin and his heart slowing back down to a normal pace. His friends hovered around him anxiously, silently, waiting for some sort of confirmation that the medicine had worked.

Prompto covered his eyes and started to cry.

“I’m sorry.” He didn’t know why he was sorry, he didn’t know why he said that. Everything had just happened so fast and could’ve died and it was terrifying. He had every right to cry, but he was sorry that he was. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Noctis said, as gently as his once frightened and now relieved voice could.

He leaned against his friends, and just cried.

The sun was back up by the time Prompto opened his eyes again. He didn’t know when he had fallen asleep, but he figured it was at some point when he was crying. Being injured, and then poisoned, and then sobbing your eyes out tended to take a lot out of a person. Someone, probably Gladio, had carried him to a bed at some point, as well.

Light filtered in through the window blinds in bright lines on the floor and end of the bed. Prompto had to force his eyes to stay open as they were still heavy from sleep. His head still hurt a bit and just felt incredibly tired, but considering it was was probably already the middle of the day he felt that he needed to get up, stop worrying his friends. He pushed himself up until he was sitting and used the pillows to brace himself.

He wondered how long he had been asleep, how they had afforded a motel room, where everyone was. The thoughts kept filtering through his head but he didn’t have the energy to think about the answers for them. Luckily for him, he didn’t have to put the energy in as the door carefully opened, the old hinges creaking slightly. Ignis slipped inside as quietly as he could, his lips pressed tightly together in an expression of distaste, obviously at the noise the door was making. He closed it behind it him and froze when he saw Prompto sitting up on the bed.

“You’re awake,” He said, flatly. Surprise flickered over his face and faded away as fast as it appeared.

“Yeah,” Prompto answered. His throat felt scratchy and dry. He forced himself not to cough, or gag at the nasty taste at the back of his mouth. “Good morning.”

“It’s one in the afternoon.” Ignis finally moved away from the doorway, placing down the things he had carried in on the nearby table.

“Oh.” Wow, he had slept for a godsdamned long time.

Awkwardness clung to the air. Ignis lingered near the table, back to the bed, uncharacteristically distant. Well, he had always kept a certain ‘proper’ air about him, acting as the more responsible member of the group, but he had never felt so… disconnected. Just from looking at him, it seemed like he was struggling to hold onto that distance, like he didn’t  _ want  _ to get closer, either literally or metaphorically. It was the weirdest thing Prompto had seen in awhile, and he had seen the picture Gladio had taken of him when he had a bloody nose. Now the energy he needed to think flooded into his veins. What did he do to make Ignis want to be so far from him? He had messed up  _ a lot  _ in the past few days, he knew that, was he still mad? Was he?

“Prompto.”

He looked up, not realizing how badly he had been zoning out. Ignis’s back was still turned, and he was gripping the back of one of the chair, hard. Prompto had never seen him like this, either.

“I’m sorry.”

Prompto blanked. “Y- what?”

“I’m sorry,” Ignis repeated, followed by a sigh. But it wasn’t his annoyed sigh, or even his disappointed one. It sounded far more regretful, ashamed.

“What for?” The blonde asked, confused. It hit him a few seconds after the question came out of his mouth, but the older man didn’t give him a chance to say anything.

“The way I’ve been acting recently has been, well, I believe you’d refer to it as ‘asshole-ish.” He turned around and moved swiftly towards the bed, sitting near the end so he was only half facing the other. “I’ve been unfairly harsh with you.”

“I mean…” Prompto scratched his head. “I’ve been kind of an idiot…” He tried not to think back on everything he had done in the past few days.

“No.”

Yet again, Prompto was taken aback. He couldn’t even get himself to say anything in response. Ignis was staring at him, almost  _ glaring _ , but the look wasn’t meant for him.

“You haven’t been an idiot. You’ve been clumsy and naive, but you  _ can’t  _ be blamed for that,” He insisted, staring Prompto right in the eyes. He sighed again, looking away and lowering his tone. “You haven’t the experience the rest of us have. We’ve been trained since childhood, but you’re new to everything. Anyway, it’s just been accidents.” He shifted a bit and pushed up his glasses. Not in the mildly intimidating, two-fingers-head-down-eyes-closed way he did when he was annoyed, just normally.

There was silence, for a moment. Prompto stared at Ignis, face twisted up in something between confusion, sadness, and relief. He had really messed up this time, for real. Letting his anxieties get the better of him. He knew Ignis was right. You can’t blame naivety on someone who’s never been taught otherwise.

“I’ve-” Ignis cut himself, swallowing, seemingly gathering his thoughts. “I have been a real ass. This journey is bringing the worst out of me, isn’t it?” Prompto didn’t know what to say, so he remained silent, pressing his lips together, waiting. Ignis continued. “It’s all very stressful, and I… feel this  _ need  _ to be responsible, to take care of everyone, to take care of Noctis. It’s technically not a part of my job to do anything besides  _ advise _ , but I’ve always felt responsible for him. I allowed my stress and fears to get to my head, to-to control me, and I ended up taking it out on the easiest target, which was unfortunately you. These aren’t meant as excuses, of course, please don’t misinterpret this, I just felt you needed an explanation-”

“Iggy.” Prompto placed a hand on the man’s shoulder, quieting him. “Dude, you’re rambling.”

The two shared a look. Ignis looked absolutely miserable, letting his usually airtight emotional defenses down.

“I get it, man. I really do,” Prompto said, frowning. “I mean, you… you made me feel like total shit, dude, really, it  _ sucked _ . But I… I’ve always had trouble with my self esteem, I always let things get to my head when I shouldn’t, and I reeeaaally let this all get to my head.” He let the feelings he had been penting up for days spill out with his words, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. But he had cried enough already, and he took a deep breath to get everything under control. “Honestly, we’re both at some fault. You acted like an ass, I acted like a pubescent boy.”

Ignis snickered. Prompto couldn’t help but smile at the crack in misery.

“We’re both idiots,” Ignis said, quietly.

“Yeah. But… I think, if we’re both careful and try not to let things get to our heads again, we’ll be cool.”

Ignis smiled. It was sad, but hopeful. “Yes, I believe so too.”

The awkwardness and tension that had filled the air in the past few days faded away, leaving behind a comfortable sort of relief. Prompto held up his arms, beckoning for a hug, which Ignis leaned into without hesitation. He wasn’t usually one for affectionate physical contact, but making up after a fight always required one.

When they let go, Ignis was still smiling. Prompto had never seen him so expressive for such a long period time before.

“If it hadn’t been for you, I suppose I would have been eaten. I certainly wasn’t paying enough attention. Thank you.”

Prompto waved a dismissive hand. “Ah, it was nothing.”

“How are you feeling? You had us all quite worried, you know.”

He closed his eyes, leaning back into the pillows. “Like chocobo poop.”

“Well.” He felt the weight lift off his bed, and opened his eyes to see Ignis standing. “You rest up. Cindy was kind enough to pay for the hotel room for a few nights, so sleep as long as you like. There’s food and drinks and the like on the table, if you need any. I’ll try to keep Noctis from barreling through the door until you’re awake again.” With that, and a final smile, he slipped from the room.

Prompto grabbed a water before laying back down in the bed. His heart didn’t feel so heavy anymore. Now, he thought, he knew what true friends were like.

And he wasn’t going to let his anxiety take that away from him ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood  
> It's FINISHED!!!  
> I've been writing this since September 2016. I'm so happy to finally be finished!  
> I hope everyone enjoyed it, and continues to enjoy it. Thank all of you who've stuck around while waiting for me to post chapters, as it has taken me infinitely long. Now that this one is finished, I'm going to move on to writing more fics for different fandoms, as well as ones for FFXV. I have ideas for Uncharted and Dishonored under my sleeve, so if you life those two or FFXV, please stick around!  
> -Mel


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